


want you (for the rest of my life)

by dourhorsing (notapieceofcake)



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Canon, Anal Fingering, Canon Era, Glory Hole, Idk what I'm doing with my life, M/M, Peeping, Pining, Prostitute Merlin (Merlin), Quiet Sex, Sloppy Seconds, Smut, Sneaky Arthur, Spying, he's not- it's just what arthur thinks, marking as non-con, morgwen (hinted at), non con elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-31
Updated: 2020-07-31
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:34:09
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25621438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notapieceofcake/pseuds/dourhorsing
Summary: arthur worries merlin is sick, till he's convinced he's not. he decides to tail merlin to figure out this latest puzzle surrounding his manservant.
Relationships: Merlin/Arthur Pendragon, Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Merlin/OC
Comments: 15
Kudos: 94





	want you (for the rest of my life)

Arthur had always found Merlin to be perpetually bad at his job as a servant, though he had to hand it to him the boy had shown himself to be quickly adaptable where Arthur’s real needs were concerned. Like, getting him into and out of his armour, not to mention his sword and armour being kept in fit shape thanks to Merlin's dedication. So, Arthur didn’t really blame him for the rest. After all, Merlin had really just come to Camelot to learn from Gaius, before Uther had ruined those plans by awarding him the position of manservant to the prince of Camelot instead. Honestly, considering all of that, Merlin had done quite good for himself at the start.

Likewise, Arthur also realized this meant Merlin had no formal training or education as a servant, and therefore let his many mistakes, and clumsiness, and penchant to talk back to his master go under the radar. Most of the time.

The prince prided himself in being a fair man, and a good master to Merlin. Despite the boy’s inability to act as fit of his station, Arthur made sure to be generous and let him have breaks every now and then.

It may or may not have something to do with his growing affections for the floundering young man, but he also knew good council when he heard it, and he was glad to have taken Morgana’s advice on how to ensure Merlin’s good health and emotional wellbeing. After all, she and Guinevere had such easy chemistry and she always seemed to radiate joy in Morgana’s presence. Perhaps, he had conceded, Morgana knew _some_ things. 

While Arthur usually tended to keep his nose out of where it didn’t belong, he had become increasingly curious about what Merlin did in his free time. Once the thought of prying into his servant's life would have annoyed the prince, but now he simply pushed forward, not even feeling the slightest bit of shame at being interested in his servant’s private affairs. After all, Merlin wasn’t just his servant. He was also the only one besides Morgana to openly challenge his authority and tell him when he was being stupid. He was the only real friend Arthur saw besides his father’s wayward ward, and he realized he wasn’t ashamed to admit in the privacy of his mind that Merlin was his friend before his servant.

A loud clang startled him but he quickly masked the flinch with a glare aimed at Merlin, who looked like a startled stoat, his shoulders hunched and eyes big and round as he stared at the fallen tray now lying at his feet.

If the poor boy hadn’t already looked like he was about jump of his skin, Arthur would have berated him for being so clumsy. As it was, his expression mellowed the prince’s anger, who instead leveled the servant with only a half-hearted glare.

“I-I’m sorry. It just… fell,” Merlin floundered, finishing lamely as he picked the tray up, his movements slow as if he thought the object might bite him if he made any sudden movements.

Odd, considering his usually energetic movements.

“Don’t worry Merlin. I wasn’t startled. Although, you look like you’re afraid it’s going to attack you,” he added, unable to not tease the other.

Merlin’s responding glare wasn’t even half-serious, and Arthur feared for a moment that the boy was coming down with a fever. Then he remembered that today was the day he usually let Merlin go early, and gave him the next day off as well.

But if that was the reason Merlin had been distracted and more clumsy than usual, Arthur couldn’t understand the cause. They’d been doing this for years, and Merlin had never had this glazed look in his eyes or such slow movements as if he was gliding through water. It occurred to him that maybe he just hadn't noticed sooner, but if that were the case then Arthur needed to up his game. However, he was sure that Merlin would almost always be happier and more energetic the days he would be getting a break.

A possibility for the recent jitteriness struck him and the thought left the prince gaping in shock and unexplained horror. Was Merlin seeing someone? Was the reason behind the glazed look some recent paramour?

 _Pfft-! Yeah, right._ If Merlin ever started seeing someone, Arthur figured he would be the first to know. In fact, he was sure Merlin would be bouncing with excitement to tell him. He was goofy like that and his thoughts were never really hidden from Arthur.

Whatever the case, Arthur took pity on his state and gave the younger leave earlier than usual. If Merlin was unwell, then he wanted the other to have a good night’s rest so he could be well enough to enjoy his other day off. After all, it wouldn’t do if his friend’s day off were to be ruined because he was bedridden.

With that in mind, Arthur watched contentedly as Merlin slowly stumbled out of his chambers with a grateful smile and a mumbled good night.

xXx

It was few weeks later when Arthur noticed similar behavior and found himself wondering again if Merlin were ill. However, the déjà vu struck him and he remembered the pattern of dazed looks, ungainliness, and probable unwellness.

This time, Arthur could not contain his curiosity even if his father ordered him to. He would find out what exactly ailed his friend, and then he would finally see what Merlin got up to in his leisure when he felt better. That is, if Merlin refused to confide in him.

Just as Merlin straightened up with the tray in his worryingly weak grasp, Arthur plucked it out of his bony hands and placed it on his desk, out of danger from falling from Merlin’s grasp. _Again_.

Merlin turned startled eyes to him, wide and panicked, “Arthur? I’m-"

“Don’t apologize, you oaf,” he rolled his eyes, not letting him finish that sentence, though he ruffled Merlin’s mop of hair to convey his jesting intention.

“There’s something I’ve been wondering about, Merlin.” Without waiting for a response, though Merlin did turn his full attention to him and was nodding at him to continue before he'd even finished the sentence, he continued, “Are you unwell?”

That was not what he had planned on saying, and obviously not what Merlin had expected, because now he was just staring at him as if he’d lost his mind.

“No,” he answered slowly, with a cautious tone. “Not feeling any unwellness that I know of,” he added, and Arthur rolled his eyes at the impudent tone.

He decided it best to ignore _that_ for now. After all, he had another question he wanted answered.

“Good! Then what are you planning on doing during your time off?” he asked, patting himself on the back for sounding perfectly casual and uninterested.

Merlin, however, looked like a cornered deer, and Arthur didn’t know whether to roll his eyes or comfort the idiot when his eyes darted frantically towards the door. Damn it, he wasn't going to rescind his free time by giving him more work if he said he would be napping! He felt Merlin should give him more credit than that, at least. 

“Um... I just normally… hang out with Gaius or Gwen, or I collect the herbs Gaius needs to make poultices and potions,” he answered, not looking anywhere near Arthur’s face.

The answer disappointed and disheartened the prince. Perhaps Merlin didn’t consider him a friend the way Arthur saw him. Or even if he did, perhaps he didn’t feel comfortable enough to share what he actually did with him. Arthur hoped he masked his distraught expression, even if Merlin had yet to notice his sadness.

“Hmm... So, are you sure you're feeling fine?” he found himself pressing, and wanted to smack himself for seeming desperate.

Merlin did look up at that, a strange expression flitting across his face before it was gone in an instant. “Yes, Arthur. But, are you okay? Is everything okay? Do you need me to stay back?”

Arthur stared at him for a long moment, feeling a sick satisfaction at seeing the other squirm under his gaze. Let him know Arthur knew him well enough to see past his lies!

Then, a moment later, he felt bad about the sadistic thoughts. Merlin was right to be wary, Arthur shouldn’t blame him. However good friends they were, Merlin was still a servant and he had seen Arthur be cruel just for fun before, if the fiasco of their first meeting was anything to go by.

He shook his head of the thoughts and forced himself to smile. “No, everything is fine!” he stated, taking a step back. “Also, you can leave early today Merlin. I’ll just be going through some more documents for the night, so I don’t need you now.”

Merlin looked at him strangely, before pointedly looking at the window to their left. It was evening, just after sun down. “Uh... alright, Arthur. Let me just dress you for the night then, if you’ll be turning in early,” he said, moving towards his wardrobe.

“No need!” He winced as soon as he said it, the words having come out too sudden and too loud. Merlin turned around, and Arthur rolled his eyes in exasperation. “I'll be having dinner with father and Morgana tonight. I can’t just show up in my sleeping clothes!”

“Oh,” was all Merlin said, his mouth remaining in that little ‘o’ shape for a moment longer as he looked sheepishly at Arthur, as if not having known that was his fault. “In that case, I’ll take my leave then. If you’re sure you don’t need me for anything else?”

Any other time, Arthur would have teased him for finally learning some servantly manners and suddenly being so eager to please. However, he just shook his head and gave a half wave of his arm, “No, you may leave.”

“Good night, then, Arthur.”

xXx

The prince had been ready. He was resolved. Once he spied Merlin from his window as he left the castle, Arthur grabbed his blue cloak and rushed out, sneaking through passageways he knew would be empty at this time and exited the castle hot on Merlin’s tail.

Once outside and safe from prying guards or knights who would recognize him, he waited a few moments to let Merlin get a safe distance ahead before following him to the lower town.

It didn’t take long, and within a half hour, they made it to what Arthur assumed was the destination. It seemed like a regular tavern, with people mingling about near the doorway and windows, and coming in and out, all in jovial mood. Caught up for a moment in the crowd and the vibrancy of them, Arthur almost lost sight of Merlin and cursed under his breath. But then he caught sight of the fluffy raven head bobbing to another entrance, and he frowned upon seeing him take the back entrance to the the tavern.

Now, Arthur wasn’t one to frequent establishments like this, but he was aware that back entrances were usually for staff and workers. Kind of like the different servant entrances throughout a palace. What was Merlin doing entering through the back? He felt a pang of guilt. If Merlin needed to earn extra coin, surely he knew he could have brought it up to Arthur?

Filing away the thought for later, the prince entered the tavern from the regular entrance, keeping the hood low on his face to ensure no eyes lingered on him any more than a fleeting second. He was on a stealth mission after all.

Once inside, he quickly made his way to the back, not paying much attention to the interior or the other patrons. After all, if Merlin entered through the back, he must still be near there, and if Arthur hurried, he could catch him there. However, upon reaching the back, Arthur saw only one door, through which what appeared to be a patron disappeared into.

With a slight frown, Arthur pushed the door open and stepped inside a few beats after the other cloaked man. The atmosphere was decidedly different, and the immediate thought that struck him was that the tavern was a front for some shady business. And if that was the case, then he needed to get Merlin out of there immediately! Whatever trouble the idiot had gotten himself into, Arthur would take care of it later, but for now, if this was some illegal business like Arthur assumed, then Merlin could be in danger.

The frantic thoughts racing through his mind, he entered further, debating which route to take form here. The door he’d come through had opened into a large room, which was divided into three portions, two of them much smaller than the one he was standing in, and only separated from the largest portion by by thick curtains which reached the floor. There was no light source in this section, so the only illumination was the candle light that filtered through the slits in the curtains.

Clicking his tongue, he decided to just enter one section first. Merlin was behind one of those curtains, and Arthur wasn’t willing to waste any more time. Now that he had a plan of action, the noise in his ears died down and he noticed for the first time the sounds filling the room. There was what sounded like loud smacks, and occasional whimpers. Within moments, he realized what he had walked into. The smacking was coming from skin slapping against skin, and just as Arthur realized the tavern was just using the back rooms for what taverns are usually known for, he first felt a bit ridiculous at jumping to conclusions about foul play. And then he felt an odd, irrational sense of anger. If Merlin needed the extra coin, he certainly didn’t need to work as a prostitute at some lower town tavern. He should have known Arthur would give him whatever raise he needed!

He decided he would just leave, not wanting to be caught and have to have that awkward conversation with his friend. Just as he turned, a low, drawn out moan pierced through the room, and Arthur’s head snapped towards the sound. He knew that voice anywhere. And now he knew were Merlin was.

Not really able to feel his body anymore, he saw his trembling hand slightly pull the curtain away from the section he knew Merlin was in, he didn't know when he had moved towards the partition anyway, and peeked in even as he silently cursed himself for doing so.

Nothing, even the knowledge of the two sections being used for a quick roll in the hay, could have prepared him for what he saw. The section had a thin wooden wall dividing it, with a whole cut near the bottom, roughly above knee-level. Merlin was on one side, naked aside from his ridiculous red shirt, which was riding up his lower back how, on his hands and knees with his arse pressed against the hole, and one hand bracing against the wall in front of him. On the other side of the faux wall was the roguish looking man Arthur had seen entering the room a while before he did. There was a lantern placed on his side of the partition, so Merlin’s side was mostly dark, which Arthur assumed was most likely so that his identity would remain secret even if the visitor happened to peek in upon entrance. Anyway, he could tell it was Merlin because he knew him.

Right now, what he found really inconvenient was the sudden tightness in his breeches and his inability to look away from the scene. There was something just so arousing of watching Merlin thoroughly enjoy debasing himself with a complete stranger. The boy eagerly pushed back against the hole, having found a rhythm with the stranger’s thrusts and Arthur had to bite down a curse and grab his crotch through his breeches.

He was struck back into reality when Merlin gave a loud moan, followed by the man thrusting hard against the wooden wall as he grunted something about a perfect peach and definitely coming back for more. Arthur barely had the time to quickly move back towards the door, before the curtain was pushed aside at the man’s end and he stumbled out, retying his breeches.

Their shoulders brushed as the man stumbled past him and back into the tavern, not even sparing a glance in Arthur's direction. The prince found it hard to swallow around the lump in his throat. There was no movement from behind that curtain, and Arthur realized Merlin must still be in there.

Waiting for the next visitor.

Not able to call it simple curiosity anymore, and emboldened by the smell and sound of unhindered sex in the room, Arthur pushed the curtain away to enter the section the tall man had just vacated. He noticed that the visitor, when entering, could not see the darker side of the partition and thus couldn't see the person on the other end. While impressed by it, and glad that others didn’t get to see Merlin even if they could have him, Arthur didn’t dwell on the genius of the measurement and placements of the inside of the partitioned zones.

Wordlessly, he stepped up to the whole in the wooden wall and pulled the strings on his breeches, letting them pool around his boots. He bent slightly to reach in, intending to make sure Merlin was wet and stretched enough for him to not hurt, but his fingers brushed against Merlin’s hand, and he had to bite his lip to stop from groaning out loud when he realized Merlin was fucking himself with his fingers.

 _Right after he got plowed, the little minx_ , Arthur found himself thinking.

Quickly, Merlin’s fingers moved away, and Arthur was glad he noticed this quick so he wasn't forced to give the servant a verbal reminder. Shoving his fingers in quickly, he sucked in a sharp breath at feeling his hole deliciously loose, and dripping with the previous man’s load. Merlin’s greedy hole fluttered around his fingers, seemingly pulling them deeper into his body, and Arthur bit his lip hard enough to bleed. Making quick work of preparing him, just to be sure even though by now he knew Merlin didn’t need it, Arthur decided he was done in a few moments.

His fingers came out with a wet plop, slick with oil and another man’s semen, and Arthur wanted to growl. After a couple strokes to his cock to relieve the ache and smear it with precome and the mixture on his fingers, Arthur finally pushed his cock through the hole, unable to stop the low groan when his head breached Merlin’s sloppy entrance at the other end. Merlin, being a greedy little whore, immediately clenched around his head, as if to impatiently let him know to hurry up, and Arthur chuckled under his breath despite himself.

With one long thrust, he pushed all the way in, and savoured the feeling of warm wetness and tight heat around his cock, heightened by Merlin’s loud whimper. He pulled out slowly, till just the tip of his cock was inside him before pushing in again, harder.

After that, he set a quick pace, unable to go slow like he’d intended and like he’d always thought his first time would be with Merlin. However, it was like his body wasn’t his own, and he wasn’t able to slow down, and if not for Merlin’s loud, breathy moans, he would have worried about the roughness of his pace. Unlike in the the romance stories he'd heard in his younger years, his orgasm didn’t creep up on him, slow and steady, but was sudden, and he found himself groaning hoarsely as he thrust forward, burying himself to the hilt to the sounds of Merlin’s wordless blabbering and drawn-out whines as his body fluttered around him, hungrily milking the last of his cum like much needed sustenance.

It took a moment for his vision to clear, and he absently pulled his softening cock out from where it was still buried inside his friend. As the sounds of flesh hitting flesh and grunts from the other section made it through the haze in his mind, Arthur pulled up his breeches and slowly retied the strings, worrying about what this entailed. Merlin didn’t know Arthur had ‘visited’ him, nor that he knew now what Merlin got up to.

Hearing light shuffling from the other side of the partition, Arthur quickly pulled his hood up before exiting the sub-room, and like the man before him, quickly disappeared back into the tavern.

As he headed back to the palace, he couldn’t fight off a giddy smile despite the circumstances. So, his first time with Merlin hadn’t gone as he’d imagined, and Merlin didn’t know he’d had Arthur, but it was still the best lay Arthur had had.

He found his thoughts echoing the same notion Merlin's first patron today had had, _We definitely need to do that again_.

Now he just had to figure out a way to woo Merlin into bed willingly. Till then, maybe he would take a visit or two to this tavern when Merlin had the days off.

**Author's Note:**

> title from britney spears' deep in my heart
> 
> english isn't my first language, and i'm out of practice writing (especially smut) so please be kind <3


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